Why BLM does what it wants

From Black Lives Matter Toronto’s perspective, why shouldn’t it have blocked the busy intersection of Yonge and Bloor Streets for 20 minutes Tuesday morning to protest the impending deportation of a new mother to Jamaica?

BLM Toronto held up the gay pride parade last year — after being invited to participate as honoured guests by pride organizers — and a year later their demand that uniformed police be barred from the parade was met.

Toronto council went right on funding the parade with public money, even though it was now discriminating against city workers as part of BLM’s campaign to delegitimize and demonize the police force.

So what BLM Toronto has learned from experience — courtesy of Toronto politicians — is that blocking streets works. It gets them what they want.

This time, BLM reportedly told police its protest at Yonge and Bloor would be happening, the night before. We couldn’t confirm that, but no one from BLM was arrested and after about 20 minutes, they were simply allowed to pack up and move on.

BLM also has Toronto’s public school board and police services board on the run — with the school board “temporarily” suspending the police School Resource Officer program, without even waiting for the results of the review of the program it had ordered.

Earlier, the police board ordered its own review because of BLM pressure.

BLM members are rude and disruptive but they haven’t resorted to violence, unlike so-called “anti-fascists” almost routinely do these days. BLM doesn’t need to. It has municipal politicians cowed and some who agree with them. As we’ve noted before, to us, the issue isn’t BLM.

It’s just one of several groups — for example many Indigenous protesters — who think they have a divine right to disrupt the rest of us as we go about our lives because they are possessed of superior moral knowledge compared to everyone else.

The issue isn’t what they do, it is how our civic leaders react to it.

Or rather, don’t react, because they’re terrified of being called racists.

As long as this works for groups like BLM, they’re going to keep doing it.

And our politicians will continue to allow it, which is the real disgrace, since it accomplishes little else but encouraging disrespect for the law.